All about events and happenings at the Big Gay Frat House in San Francisco's oh-so-gay Castro District, as well as our various adventures out and about in San Francisco.

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The images we use are all original and are not lifted from the Internet, except when provided by promoters about their events. Our photos are uploaded to Flickr and linked back to here. Many of these images are restricted on Flickr due to showing some nudity or other adult content. To see full-size thumbnails of any restricted images in slideshows, you must create an account on Flickr, log in, and turn off SafeSearch in your account settings. This allows Flickr to prevent minors and those not interested in the content from accidentally seeing it.

Number 18 on my list of my favorite types of Flickr photos are my pictures of gay porn stars.

Perhaps I should note that these are photos I personally took of porn stars in real life, not pilfered from the Internet.

The gay community's evolution as a minority group is somewhat different than minorities defined by ethnicity, ancestry, or religion. While other minorities had their families for support growing up in a hostile culture, we grow up alone and confused. When the LGBT community first started to recognize sexual orientation as an innate characteristic rather than simply an optional behavior, homosexuality was still classified as a mental disorder and an illegal act, and those who acted on their feelings were forced either to do so covertly or to flee their families and set up new lives elsewhere.

The gay community has embraced gay porn stars as celebrities in a way that the mainstream population has never embraced straight porn stars and probably never will. It's my belief that we did so, and will continue to do so, for two reasons. First and foremost, I believe the gay community as a whole is somewhat less judgmental about sexuality, whether it's people whose turn-ons are different than our own or people who make a living in the sex industry. We are willing to accept porn stars as human beings, friends, and even bone fide celebrities, rather than part of an industry to be shunned.

Second, historically -- especially before World War II and leading up through the end of the Vietnam War -- we did not have national celebrities of our own. Our celebrities tended to be more local figures, like drag performers and, later, political activists. On a national level, we revered straight allies like Judy Garland but did not have gay heroes. Those gay figures of international reputation who were outed typically met tragic fates, like Oscar Wilde and Alan Turing. But the musicians and actors who were gay led closeted lives, at least outside of Hollywood, and it wasn't until after they died that the private lives of people like Rock Hudson and Liberace would be made public. Until we reached a generation where people like k.d. lang, Elton John, Melissa Etheridge, Neal Patrick Harris, and John Barrowman could come out without losing their careers, we had few celebrities of national stature. As a result, we embraced those of national recognition within our own community: gay porn stars.

Which is an overly long preface to bring us to the next topic of my favorite Flickr photos: gay porn stars.

In San Francisco, especially in gay neighborhoods, you can't throw a stone without hitting someone involved in the porn industry. We encounter gay porn performers all the time at the gym, in clubs, at charity fundraisers, and more. Here are some of our favorites we've worked with in different capacities.

Brent Corrigan

We have worked with Brent Corrigan on two different fundraisers, both for Community United Against Violence. In August 2006, Brent -- who was then only 19 years old -- was the emcee of our Midsummer Night's Dream fundraiser. Five performers, some in drag and some as boys, competed to be crowned the next king or queen of the fairies. Although their performances helped capture the audiences' attention, the voting was done through their sale of raffle tickets, and in the end our friend Katya Smirnoff-Skyy came in first place. The event remains the second most lucrative charity fundraiser we've held at the Big Gay Frat House.

Two years later, Brent returned to San Francisco for Another Gay Fundraiser, an event we threw together at theLookOut that was tied into the world premiere of the mainstream film Another Gay Sequel, in which he appears as a merman. This event raised several thousand dollars for CUAV. Not bad for a bar event!

Below are a few more photos of Brent at these two fundraisers. And you can find more photos of Brent Corrigan on Flickr.

Danny Roddick and Brotherhood

In April of 2007, we rented out our home to Colt Studios so that they could film Brotherhood, a fraternity-themed porn film through their Buckshot subdivision. It was an interesting perspective on a major adult film shoot, with complex lighting, camera work, and more dialog than I've ever heard of in a porn movie. (Writer/director Jerry Douglas later won a GayVN, the equivalent of a gay porn Oscar, for Best Writing.)

The film starred Danny Roddick along with Dean Phoenix, Jan Fisher, Tory Mason, Trey Castille, Jorden Michaels, Sebastian Rivers, Kurt Wild, Justin Berkshire, Kevin Armstrong, and Dallas Reeves. The full cast photo, along with us, is at the top of the page. Oh, and I had a brief cameo in the opening credits playing (what else?) a photographer.

So we spent the week with boys running around our house in their underwear, jockstraps, or completely naked. The process of filming is arduous; the seven-person orgy scene in our living room took something like nine hours to shoot.

The film was scheduled for a September release (back to school?), and the producers planned for a release party/charity fundraiser in our home which was to be hosted by Danny Roddick, who was going to auction the underwear off his body as part of the fundraiser. Sadly, Danny tragically died the week before the fundraiser and we cancelled the event.

Here are more behind-the-scenes shots on the set of Brotherhood. Check out Flickr for more.

Colby Taylor and Strip Twister

At the filming of Brotherhood in our home, the second camera operator was someone who also had a lot of experience in front of the camera: porn star Colby Taylor. We became friends on and off the set. At the after party, he suddenly rushed into the bathroom to scrub off extra lube. Of course we took a photo; a porn star who cleans up after himself is the hottest star of all!

Months later, I ran into him while he was playing strip twister at the Deco Lounge. Yes, he got completely naked, as did the other players. He ran up to say hi after he finished the game. Then, turning, he saw my friend and ran up to give him a hug too. My friend didn't even notice, until he saw the photos later, that Colby was completely naked when he was hugging him.

He gave us a ride home that night, telling us terrible jokes that are completely inappropriate for polite company. Naturally, they are among the very few jokes in my life that I can remember.

Several years ago, I attended a fundraiser at the Powerhouse called Manwash. The idea was that guests would buy raffle tickets. A porn star would then be "dirtied up" with body paint and the grand prize winner of the raffle would get to wash the pornstar clean. It was intended to be a monthly benefit for the Stop AIDS Project.

In my post for Number 20 on my list, I mentioned twice having the opportunity to go on RSVP Cruises, as PlanetOut, where I worked, then owned RSVP. PlanetOut also then owned Liberty Publications, the publishers of magazines like The Advocate and Out Magazine. Liberty also had a porn division that included Freshman Magazine, among others. And so as part of cross-company promotional efforts, RSVP brought on porn stars onto their cruises.

My first cruise includedRoman Heart. It wasn't the first time I met him; that was at another Gay.com party. You know you work for a gay company when porn stars are featured guests of your events (and drag queens emcee your company Christmas party). Anyway, I was a bit smitten with Roman before he became too muscley for my tastes, so of course I got a photo with him.

My second cruise included Roman's ex, Benjamin Bradley, as a guest. (They were ex-boyfriends at the time, but they have subsequently gotten back together.) Yes, I got a photo with Ben, too. Once, years later, I met the two together. I have a photo of that encounter, too.

Other friends: Trystian Sweet, Luke Cassidy, and more...

Many of the porn stars I've become friends without knowing they were in porn, at least not initially. Quite a lot of them I met performing, but on stage rather than behind the camera. More specifically, they were dancing on a go-go stage.

Trystian Sweet, for example, always loved it when I would photograph him while he danced, and he would pause while dancing to make sure I got a good shot. He came to my 40th birthday party, bouncing up to me while I was chatting with my mother, bringing an enormous birthday card that was almost three feet tall. Just days before, Colt Studios had shot publicity stills of him naked in our living room. (The actual movie was filmed elsewhere, as the director was allergic to our cats.)

I didn't know Luke Cassidy did porn for about a year after I met him go-go dancing at the LookOut and other clubs. It took me many more months to actually be able to remember his porn name. We've subsequently become good friends. I also have many photos of Luke's good friend, Kai Ford, who has subsequently moved to Europe.

Tristian Phoenix, another boy I met go-go dancing, volunteered to dance at our Frat House for the Holidays fundraiser. So did another friend whose porn name has changed so many times that I can't remember any of them. Wolf Hudson danced at one of our Girl Drink Drunk fundraisers and subsequently became a friend. I photographed Christian Owen go-go dancing long before I knew he did porn. I later hired him to dance at the Trannyshack finale. I've long harbored a little crush on T.J. Hawke, though most of my photos of him aren't properly tagged. And I dare say there are many other go-go boys I've photographed who have a whole career in front of the cameras that I'm not aware of.

Here are a handful of other porn performers whose photos I've taken over the years:

In early 2006, Kevin was looking for a way to share photos taken in January at the Epiphany Party hosted at the Big Gay Frat House. A colleague recommended Flickr and he signed up on February 2, 2006.

The collection began just for photos taken at the BGFH, but it soon exploded into something much bigger. After taking a few snaps at local drag shows and club nights, he suddenly became known as an unofficial documentarian of gay nightlife.

Earlier this month while on vacation in New Orleans, Kevin broke the 40,000th photo mark on Flickr, an impressive feat for photos that are original and not filled with "net finds."

Note: if you simply hop over to Flickr right now to see them, you'll only see a small fraction of those photos. That's because Flickr requires some of the racier ones to be marked "restricted." That prevents them from being accidentally being seen by children (who cannot turn off SafeSearch) and others with more delicate sensibilities who choose not to turn off SafeSearch. To see those ones, you'll need to create a free account on Flickr and then turn off SafeSearch in your account settings.

As of today, Kevin has posted 41,051 items (all photos except for two short videos). All of that over the course of 1,312 days (approximately 3.6 years). That works out to an average of 31 photos per day, or 219 per week, or over 900 a month -- over 11,000 per year.

In that time, his photos and photostream have been viewed over 4 million times. That includes 2.6 million views of individual photos, over 983,000 clicking pages of the photostream with medium-sized images, and nearly 500,000 looking at full sets of thumbnailed images. Over the course of a typical month, his photos will be seen anywhere from 2,000 to 10,000 times per day. Here's an overview:

If he were allowed to post ads on these pages (he can't under Flickr's rules) and charge an extremely modest $5 CPM, he would have earned over $20,000 in that time. Alas, he can't.

So what's in this collection anyway? What makes them so popular?

Quite a lot are of go-go boys dancing in their underwear or jockstraps in gay bars. Many are of drag shows, street fairs, fundraisers, and specific club nights. Thanks to Flickr's ability to allow tagging photos with meta-data, we can actually provide a quick overview. Note, however, that the tags have to be added either collectively at the time a bunch are uploaded, or individually thereafter. Most of the time, Kevin uploads the next day in one or more sets covering the events of the day. That makes it easier to tag things that cover the entire set, such as the name of the venue or bar, the name of the club night, and the city. For that cover a bunch of photos within a set, but which don't include the entire set (like go-go boys or strip poker), they can still be done in slightly more cumbersome bulk operations. But for tags that only occur a few times within a set, such as names of specific individuals, they're a lot more challenging to add and quite frankly are often omitted.

So while tags don't provide a 100% accurate reflection of Kevin's photos, they do provide a pretty good general overview. Here's a peek at the top 50, normalized to remove duplicates (for example, BGFH wasn't needed because we already had Big Gay Frat House):

Rank

Tag

# of times

1

San Francisco

32,521

2

gay

24,988

3

gay bar

20,369

4

bar

20,302

5

Castro

16,139

6

Gus Presents

7,162

7

The Cafe

6,296

8

go-go boys (also: go-go, go-go dancers)

5,523

9

Boy Bar

5,506

10

SOMA

4,839

11

drag queens

4,563

12

drag show

3,667

13

The Stud

3,244

14

Big Gay Frat House (also: BGFH)

3,180

15

fundraiser

2,981

16

Harvey's, Harveys

2,437

17

Monster Show

2,290

18

New Orleans

1,989

19

Trannyshack

1,748

20

gay cruise (tied with RSVP Vacations)

1,603

21

strip

1,515

22

Lucky Pierre

1,443

23

charity

1,386

24

LookOut

1,286

25

Hawaii

1,252

26

naked

1,240

27

Martuni's

1,164

28

Mardi Gras

1,158

29

stripping games

1,059

30

Girl Drink Drunk (also: GDD)

1,056

31

strip poker

956

32

Golden Gate Park

895

33

party

870

34

Caribbean cruise

855

35

Folsom Street Fair

851

36

Up Your Alley Fair (also: Dore Alley Fair)

838

37

440 Castro

824

38

Gay Pride

795

39

Epiphany

780

40

SF Boylesque

777

41

naked games

776

42

Mexican Riviera cruise

747

43

Frathouse

740

44

Oahu

736

45

CUAV (also: Community United Against Violence)

735

46

Civic Center

734

47

Folsom

729

48

leather

724

49

gay travel (also, gay vacations)

698

50

Honolulu

684

So ... which ones are the best? Well, that depends on how you want to define it, of course. Kevin has his own incomplete set of a few of his personal favorites. But Flickr also provides posters with a way to see their most popular photos, ranked through a variety of criteria:

Views: the ones that have been individually seen the most

Favorites: the ones that most other Flickr members have marked as their own "favorites"

Comments: the ones that the have received the most comments from Flickr members

Interesting: Flickr's own secret, proprietary algorithm for rating how interesting a photo is based on criteria involving weighting the number of comments, favoriting, and views, among potential other criteria.

Here's a fun chart showing the top 20 for all of these criteria. Many are restricted, so to the the full images when you click through to Flickr, you must first create a free account and then turn off SafeSearch in your Flickr account settings.

Rank

Views

Favorites

Comments

Interesting

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

17.

18.

19.

20.

So there you have it, the best of the best, however you want to define it.

Rather than making money off of promoting SF nightlife, Kevin currently pays a modest $25 a year to have a pro account that allows him unlimited posting, and displays as many as he loads (free accounts are limited to displaying the most recent 200 photos). It doesn't cost that much ... but given that he's been unemployed since January, he certainly wouldn't object if someone used Flickr's "gift membership" functionality to extend his pro account, which will expire in February 2010.

Though best known for his porn career, including starting two porn studios by the age of 22, Brent is one of the rare adult stars to be able to break into mainstream acting roles as well. He's starred in two short films for writer/director Jody Wheeler, including In the Closet, played Stan the Merman in Todd Stephens' Another Gay Sequel, had a credited cameo in Milk, will star in the upcoming film Judas Kiss, and is rehearsing for the lead in The Masseur (a two-man play about the art of seduction).

But Brent isn't the only reason we're excited about The Big Gay Musical. I mean, hello! It's gay. And it's a musical!

The Big Gay Musical is the story of two actors, Paul and Eddie, whose lives begin to mirror the characters they play in an off-Broadway musical. It's written and produced by Fred Caruso, directed by Casper Andreas, and stars a cast generally best known for their work on Broadway, including Liz McCartney (Taboo, South Pacific), Jim Newman (Curtains, Minnelli on Minnelli), Joey Dudding (A Chorus Line, La Cage), Marty Thomas (Xanadu, Wicked, The Secret Garden), Andre Ward (Xanadu, Saturday Night Fever), Daniel Robinson (Hairspray), Jeff Metzler (Mary Poppins), Brian Spitulnik (Chicago), Josh Cruz (Wig Out), Celina Carvajal (Tarzan and the TV show The Search of Elle Woods) and Steve Hayes, one of the stars of the film Trick.

Embrem Entertainment recently acquired distribution rights and announced that the soundtrack will be released on July 14. The film hits film festivals this summer (we'll know in 10 days if it made it into Frameline) and will have a theatrical release this fall. We can't wait!

We're excited to announce that on Saturday, September 22nd, we will be hosting the offical release party for Brotherhood, Buckshot's latest adult film, at the BGFH -- the very set where it was filmed!

This fundraiser for the AIDS Emergency Fund will be a little different. No advance tickets, just a "pay what you can" donation at the door (with a suggested donation of $20 ... or more!). The event will feature:

Folks often have the misconception that the Big Gay Frat House is some sort of porn house. Like FratPad and so many other ventures where someone sets up a series of webcams in a private house, moves in a bunch of guys, and watches the antics ensue.

No, we're just a bunch of longtime friends who bought a house together and have both private space and public space, just like a frat house. And big parties, also like a frat house.

But ... there's always a but.

Last April, we actually rented out house out to COLT Video so that their Buckshot subline could film a fraternity-themed porn movie called "Brotherhood." The film follows the advertures of one of the frat brothers (played by Danny Roddick), who is being blackmailed for doing gay porn and decides to document his seduction of his fellow frat brothers in order to counter the blackmail.

John Rutherford, the president of COLT, had really sweet things to say about us on his blog:

BROTHERHOOD was filmed last April in a grueling, action-packed, seven-day shoot at a location in the heart of San Francisco's Castro district. The home of three gay activists known in the gay community for their extensive charitable endeavors and fund-raisers, the building proved to be a perfect stand-in for a fraternity house.

"This location turned out to be ideal for the requirements of the script," noted Douglas. "The building itself has three stories of strikingly decorated, handsomely appointed rooms. Basically, all we had to do was come in and re-arrange the furniture here and there - to make room for the cameras and crew - and we were ready to film. Best of all, there were plenty of bedrooms and bathrooms in which much of the action takes place. Our hosts could not have been more accommodating - they even allowed us to film a touch football game that turns into an orgy for the finale of the film in the spacious living room of the place."

Although we were paid (with which we bought a new refrigerator!), the main reason we agreed to do it was for the unusual experience. Who else gets to see their home on film? Especially with cute, naked boys cavorting about? And gets to watch some of the filming???

Of course, the set of any film, even a porn film, isn't all fun and glamour. It's hard, grueling work! But for us at the Big Gay Frat House, it was an interesting and potentially once-in-a-lifetime experience!

In the process, we managed to raise about $17,000 net profit for charity in 2006.

But we couldn't do any of that without the help of a lot of friends.

First of all, we want to thank Richard Winchester, who has produced the lighting, sound, and stage production for every single stage performance ever held at the BGFH, and to Mark Sargent, who as either Janet Fly or Ethel Merman has performed at every event here.

And there are many, many more thank you's...

Trauma Flintstone, who performed at two of our three biggest events, the Epiphany Party and the Midsummer Night's Dream fundraiser, and is working closely with us for great things to come in 2007. (Stay tuned!)

The legendary Varla Jean Merman, co-star of Girls Will Be Girls, who graced our twothree-car carport one year after performing at the Sydney Opera House to headline at the Balls-Out Ball rugby fundraiser. Varla has subsequently returned to San Francisco on two other occasions to entertain us with "Under a Big Top" and "Varla Jean Merman is Anatomically Incorrect." We love her every time, but we'll always have a special fondness for her performance in our humble garage.

Our fabulous emcees: our neighbor, Empress Donna Sachet, one of the most prodigious fundraisers in her own right, and Greg the Gay Sportscaster of radio station Energy 92.7, who emceed the Balls-Out Ball fundraiser for the San Francisco Fog gayinclusive rugby team. I don't think we've ever seen Donna more stunned than when the first rugby bachelor auction went for $1,200! Well, except when she witnessed someone getting tea-bagged during the post performance photo op. (No, it wasn't Greg, but rumor has it that Greg and his boyfriend almost broke up over the event, but we're not sure if that's true. If it is, fortunately they made up.)

And another delightful emcee, adult star Brent Corrigan (aka Fox Ryder, aka Sean Lockhart), who hosted our frisky fairy Midsummer Night's Dream fundraiser for Community United Against Violence (CUAV) wearing fairy wings and underpants (both of which came off during the course of the evening). The underwear was later auctioned off of Brent's website for CUAV, fetching another $852 for the organization. If you've seen him perform in pictures or on video, it isn't anything compared to meeting this sweet, generous guy in person.

Other performers not already mentioned, which have included: Tom Shaw at the Epiphany Party; the "Rugby Rockettes" at the Balls-Out Ball; our new Queen and King of the Fairies, Katya Ludmilla Smirnoff-Skyy and Foxy Cotton, and our other contestant performers at the Midsummer Night's Dream fundraiser: Artemis Chase, Michael Phillis, Varian with a V, and Jonnie Evergreen; the incomparable Connie Champagne; and Julian Marshburn, Mr. SF Leather 2004, our delightfully butch and leathery Puck.

Our fabulous Russian bartender, Zhenya, who has been the head (and sometimes sole) bartender at numerous BGFH events, including Epiphany, the "Queer Duck" reception, and the Midsummer Night's Dream party. And all of our other fabulous, heavy-on-the-vodka bartenders: Scott, Maka, George, and an army of rugby boys.

Everyone who got partially or even completely butt naked for fun or charity, and it's a looong list. First and foremost, the aforementioned Brent Corrigan, our Midsummer Night's Dream emcee who was the first porn star (but hopefully not the last) to get naked for charity in our house. Our army of nearly-to-totally naked bartenders, bar-backs, and go-go boys at Epiphany: Z, Scott, Ambrose, Brad, Justin, Jeremy, Billy, Robert, and Maka (not to mention other guests who stripped down, Rick who helped us recruit, and a few more staff whose names we're embarrassed to have forgotten). The seven hunky rugby boys who did a full monty strip show (no, not strip tease, the full monty), allowing Varla Jean and Ethel Merman to cut off their jockstraps not once but twice. And various risqué fairies at the Midsummer Night's Dream party, including Ambrose (again) and Nathan.

Everyone who volunteered to work the door, the coat room, the bars, the cameras, the kitchens, and all the other details that pulled these events together.

That's a lot of acknowledgements, and even after hours of proofing, we're still finding more to add. We deeply apologize to anyone omitted.

We haven't accomplished exactly everything we wanted to in 2006, but then, we had a lot of other things going on, too. Work, for one thing. Other real estate investments for some. An unbelievable amount of renovations at the BGFH. The Monster Show, Bijou, Katya Presents, Trannyshack... Various combinations of us traveling to Buenos Aires, the Caribbean, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, the Mexican Riviera, Sonoma County, Vacaville, and half of the small-town gay bars in the Midwest.

Stay tuned for announcements of many more adventures to come in 2007. The best is yet to come!

We've been so busy preparing for our fundraiser for Community United Against Violence hosted by Brent Corrigan that we haven't had a chance to post much lately -- and now that it's done, we're too exhausted!

More details will come very soon, but first we wanted to tell you what an awesome, awesome job our emcee did. Brent Corrigan is a genuinely sweet, generous guy, and was an enormous hit at our party. We originally approached Chi Chi LaRue, whom we adore to pieces, but we so lucked out that Brent was ready, willing, and able to donate his time to help us out. Check out his fairy wings that he had custom made for the event. Doesn't he look the part?

(Brent has generously offered to help us out with something else, but we'll keep that as a surprise for a later post once the timing and details are worked out.)

We'll give a recap soon of who did what, who won, etc., but some additional quick shout-outs. Our spirits vendor had to drop out at the last minute, but we really want to thank Golden Brands for donating beer, Young's Market for helping with wine and water, and the BGFH and Holmgren & Associates for helping with the booze. Healthy Spirits and Christiana Remington provided catering, and the San Francisco Chocolate Factory provided delightful desserts. And our raffle was supported by prizes donated by BelAmi, Channel 1 Releasing, Steamworks, Rock Hard, and Freshman Magazine.

Richard Winchester produced our stage (and I think our guests were blown away by the professionalism of our sound and lighting for a house party!). Our King and Queen candidates raised a ton of money through the sale of raffle tickets, and we want to thank, in performance order, Artemis Chase, Michael Phillis, Katya Ludmilla Smirnoff-Skyy, Varian with a V, and Foxy Cotton. (In a later post, we'll reveal who won, but it was very competitive and they all raised a ton of money.) Trauma Flintstone was at the keyboard for the evening, accompanying Katya, Varian, and our entr'acte performances: the lovely and talented Connie Champagne and Ethel Merman.

More details, including a full recap, will come soon. Just wanted to take a moment to thank Brent and everyone else for participating in the party.